Movin to the country, gonna eat me a lot of peaches….

Tag Archives: An introduction

Previously on A Modern Hippy… your hippy guide was recounting her journey so far… we tune in and join her now for part deux.

So last week I found another property that looked great! 100 acres, 45 mins to work, semi bush block, with a creek and 3 dams, a converted barn to live in… sounds promising! I rang the agent and he was able to take me out there the next afternoon. I was pretty impressed when he handed me a site map with drainage drawings, contour map, an ecological study including flora and fauna on the land all that the owner had compiled. The land that I got to see was stunning although windy and I went back on Saturday for a good hike around as the agent didn’t have time for me to walk around the full property (which was fine as it was late in the afternoon anyway so would have been getting dark). While the land was really well cared for the bush part was just too steep. The terrain was just not pleasant to walk around where as Number 2 had some gentle slopes so much more pleasant. The creek was a bit of a trickle and in some areas completely dry so thats not exactly what I was after either. A dam is better than stagnant water in my opinion. It did have a converted American barn with solar and wind generator on it but it would have needed some work on it to make it full time livable as the current owners only come down every 2 weekends to stay there and tend their cattle. I’d need to insulate it and put a better kitchen in it etc etc etc. AND the price is too much for what I want to spend on land. So… its not suitable. 😦 But it is very pretty…. (and again you can click the images to make them bigger if you wanna)

So back to the daily real estate trawlings again…. Except I think I made a mistake with my money calculations and I think I may actually be able to offer the owner of Number 2 a little bit more to at least get more in the zone of what she’s asking without being exorbitant for basically a piece of land. So I’m pondering whether I should do that or just keep looking…. I’m a lil torn. Maybe it wasn’t “meant to be”… maybe I’m just over thinking all of that…. *sighs* who knows eh

In terms of my master plan for the land and the life I want to be living – I’m looking for vacant land so that I can build a straw bale house on it. The best type of house for efficient and low cost heating and cooling and it’s majorly fire resistant which helps being out in the bush (and which kinda goes against normal logic it being made of straw I know but it is). And I want to plant veggies (I already have a 4 plot veggie garden at my current house) and an orchard. Maybe some goats or sheep or cows. Definitely chickens for fresh eggs and maybe even geese or ducks for fresh eggs as well. All using permaculture principles too mind you. That’s where my hippyness comes in. Organic and free range as much as possible. And for the modern part… I’m not into banjo pickin country style. I’m a modern, clean lines, mod cons kinda gal. So while I’m building a straw bale house its going to be modern with mod cons and I’ll be mixing the best of both worlds. I’m planning on being completely off the grid with solar power and solar hot water. And after visiting the last place I could even put a wind generator as I hadn’t considered it before and it might be windy enough (Number 2 is 5 mins away from the place I saw on Saturday).

So for the moment I’m just gonna keep dreaming and work out what the hell I’m going to do about Number 2… and keep you posted on happenins n stuffs. So there you go, my introduction. Nice to meetcha 🙂 I’ll be seeing you round I’m sure!

So I don’t really know where to start this only that I need to start. So get yourself comfy cuz this is probably going to be a long one as I need to catch you up a lil bit, actually I might break it up in a couple of parts just so I don’t make your eyes go all screwy. For the last 6 months or so I’ve been looking for a property. It’s gotta have good water with preferably a creek or at least a crapload of dams. It’s gotta be within an hours drive from work and needs to be predominantly a bush block. And I’d rather not be able to see my neighbours but that’s not one of the mandatory criteria. I’m looking for between 50-100 acres. So that’s not too big of a “must have” list is it? Allow me to repeat that I’ve been looking for the last 6 months…..

I’ve seen some great properties but they either don’t have the right water, are too far away or too expensive. One of the first properties I fell in love with was perfect except it was 20 mins over my time limit and while its only 20 mins thats still 2 hours and 40 mins a day of driving…. so its juuuuust that lil bit too far away (dammit!!). I hiked around it for a couple hours daydreaming and imagining and found no erosion and only a little bit of blackberry by the river (blackberries are classified as weeds here and the council mandates that they’re kept under control so its something I need to look at when inspecting land). Other than that it was perfect, 100 acres on a large river that even had its own sandy beach, beautiful bush block with cleared house sites and within my price range. But noooooo…. too far away.

The land and the path down to the river (you can click the images to make the bigger… I think)

the river with the sandy beach

Looks beautiful huh…. *sigh* if only I could transport it 20 mins inland 🙂

So I went back to my daily trawling of the internet real estate sites and was introduced to Number 2 (aka my heart’s desire haha). My defacto brother, who is a real estate agent, took me there as an aside to some other properties he was going to show me but I fell in love with it. 150 acres with a 4 acre lake dam! Beautiful bush block with not too much cleared land with a little clapped out (unlivable) 2 br cottage and a shearing shed…. and a LOT of junk on it. As in there are 11 car wrecks in amongst the junk. BUT before you roll your eyes at me, there is a lot of reusable stuff on the land, building materials and things that can be repurposed or sold for scrap. Yes there is junk on there but it’s not so much so that it’s a deal breaker or nothing that can’t be remedied. If you see past that stuff and look at the land it’s great. No real weed problems, found one tiny blackberry bush and one thistle plant but that was it. Part of the drive needs a lil erosion remedy but nothing drastic. It’s 45 mins away from work (tick), massive lake plus lil house pond/dam (tick), bush block (tick)… within my price range…. well it’s been on the market for 2 years so my bro thought that I could get it for a price within my range. BUT the woman won’t negotiate from her unreasonable price….. (cross). Broken hearted doesn’t even begin to cover it.

I kinda counted my chickens before they hatched with that property in that I have already mapped out the orchard/veggie zones, worked out a site plan for the house and sheds and that sort of stuff. Yes yes I’m a dreamer. So that was highly disappointing.

So I’m not going to show you all of the photos of the junk, just some of the beautiful parts and the lake 🙂

The potential view from the house site and the view of the little house pond/dam (with the cottage in the background)

And the lake…..

Stunning huh…. *sigh*

And I know you’re on the edge of your seat, dying to know what happens next but… dun dun dunnnnnn… a thrilling cliffhanger! I gotta get to bed so tune in tomorrow for part 2 😛